# Built my own humidor



## divedoc (Mar 7, 2013)

The great thing about poor-quality photos is that they can cover up some imperfections, LOL. I made my own humidor over the past few weeks and just moved my small stash over to it last night. Here are two pics:















The exterior box is made of 1 1/16" black walnut, and the interior is lined with 1/4" Spanish cedar. The top has a walnut inlay with a little bit of maple(?) border, and the bottom is plywood. I finished with some Danish oil, followed by a few coats of wipe-on poly, all on the outside. If you look closely, you can almost see the curse words I spewed when my router wandered on me on the lid, or when my rabbet ended up a hair too deep. :banghead: Anyway, it's holding humidity nicely, but (as I'd feared) the humidifier is not staying put on the lid. Trying to think of better solutions, like Boveda packs in a tray.

This thing is way bigger than I thought it would be; my cigars filled my freebie humidor to bursting, but they barely make two layers in this box. I need to make some dividers, as well as a tray to sit on top of the dividers. My plan is to get a couple of boxes worth of cigars for mellowing out in the bottom part, then putting my singles and "smoke soon" stogies in the tray that will sit on top of the dividers.


----------



## jhedrick83 (Dec 4, 2012)

Looks awesome to me! Congrats on the build. It looks pretty big, what are the dimensions?


----------



## divedoc (Mar 7, 2013)

Thanks! Exterior dimensions are about 14"Wx10"Dx9"H. Interior, more like 12x7.25x7.


----------



## jhedrick83 (Dec 4, 2012)

Awesome, nothing like being able to take pride in what you built. Just give it time and you can fill it up and build another!


----------



## USHOG (Dec 28, 2012)

Looks very good. It is always better when you build it for yourself


----------



## atrain1560 (May 17, 2013)

Been thinking about doing this with my father... a little father son project. Looks cool. How long did it take you?


----------



## divedoc (Mar 7, 2013)

From start to finish, it took a few weeks. Most of that time, though, was time spent waiting for things to arrive, waiting for things to dry, or just time spent doing other things. It probably involved less than 10-20 hours of actual work.

I really wish I had a table saw for this project. I've learned that humidor building requires some degree of precision, and it's tough to get that with only handheld (power) saws. The toughest part, though, was just deciding to do it in the first place. And with everything I learned, the next one will be much better I'm sure. (No plans to make another one soon, but ya never know...)


----------



## nfusion770 (Apr 1, 2011)

Nice work, looks great. This is puff though, you're supposed to at least give us a glimpse of what goes in it :smoke: .


----------



## thebigk (Jan 16, 2013)

looks great nothing like diy. been thinking about turning my gun cabinet into a humi the one bb gun in it just seams like a waste. were did you get the cedar?


----------



## ten08 (Sep 8, 2011)

Looks great! I'm jealous of all the quality diy stuff that's been popping up lately. Talented folks around here!


----------



## divedoc (Mar 7, 2013)

Thanks for the comments, guys. For a while, I was just going to let it be my "learnin' piece" for woodwork, but it's doing a great job of holding humidity, so... 

I got the walnut and the spanish cedar online, had to look around for a while to find anyone who sold 1/4 thick, 9" wide boards.


----------



## sum12nv (Aug 22, 2011)

Looks great! Love DIY projects that turn out nice


----------



## copper0426 (Aug 15, 2012)

That looks awesome and nothing like the satisfaction of knowing YOU did that every time you open it and smoke a cigar.


----------



## golfgod04 (Oct 25, 2012)

That humidor looks great! Do you have more pictures of the inside? closeups of the joints?


----------



## Nature (Jul 30, 2012)

I love that walnut! Looks very nice. Great job!
Got to feel good using something you made by your own hands.
Well done!


----------



## bleber (Oct 13, 2012)

Nice looking humidor!


----------



## edwardsdigital (Mar 18, 2013)

I think the box looks great Doc. I am waiting to get moved into my new place in a couple weeks before I finish my box re purpose project, and think about a design for a larger box (or a wineador build).


----------



## Isaac (Jan 3, 2013)

Awesome job!!! Love the walnut. My wife would kill me if I made a humi that big. I hope its full very soon!

Congrats.

PS, if you don't mind...If you have any suppliers that you used that are not listed HERE *=>* Humidor Build Suppliers, could you add them to the list?


----------



## divedoc (Mar 7, 2013)

Sorry, no close-ups on me at the moment, and I'm out of town for the weekend. The box is joined with plain rabbets, I was experimenting with miters and other fancier things but quickly learned that my tools and experience level weren't quite ready for that yet. The cedar is cut square to the sides and friction fit into the box, all except for the top, which I glued into place. The cedar lip is about 3/8" high, and with the 1/4" cedar in the lid, I calculate an almost-zero gap when the lid is closed.

Without a table saw, it was really hard to cut perfectly square boards, but it worked out pretty well. Cutting the lid was the toughest part, since I didn't have a stationary fence to make perfectly equal cuts on all four sides. I did the best I could, then used a router to gently "plane" the cut surface to get it flat. It's still not seamless, but I got it as close as I could.


----------



## divedoc (Mar 7, 2013)

Oh, and wood and hinges -- I got all my stuff through eBay, actually. The shipping made things a little pricey, but I couldn't find a local source for the wood.


----------



## jkjitters (May 24, 2013)

Excellent build! I really like it!


----------



## Mortenoir (Mar 29, 2013)

Did you put any finish on the inside?

I plan on building my own humidor soon. Any tips/advice?


----------



## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Nice Job!


----------



## Carpenter69 (Mar 5, 2013)

divedoc said:


> From start to finish, it took a few weeks. Most of that time, though, was time spent waiting for things to arrive, waiting for things to dry, or just time spent doing other things. It probably involved less than 10-20 hours of actual work.
> 
> I really wish I had a table saw for this project. I've learned that humidor building requires some degree of precision, and it's tough to get that with only handheld (power) saws. The toughest part, though, was just deciding to do it in the first place. And with everything I learned, the next one will be much better I'm sure. (No plans to make another one soon, but ya never know...)


Got to homeless depot and get a straight edge. You'd be surprised at what can be done without a table saw. No table saws 100 yrs ago,some of that furniture is awesome.


----------



## divedoc (Mar 7, 2013)

Thanks again for the comments guys. I'm out of town (again), but my humidor's holding a rock steady 65% rh with HF beads. Been slowly building up the stash, and I think I'm at a point where I can wait until I run low before getting more.

Carpenter69, I did use a straightedge. Careful measurements and some clamping/carpet tape got me pretty darn close, but it wasn't perfect. I have incredible respect for the folks who routinely built straight, squared-off things without lasers and other tech. A buddy of mine owns a home built in the 18th century, and it's not exaggeration when I say that his walls and ceilings are still straighter than mine, which were built in the last five years or so.


----------



## Mad4Cigars (May 30, 2013)

That's awesome!!
Dunno if you have kids but that's something that generations could pass down and enjoy the stories of the previous owners!
Well done!


----------



## Carpenter69 (Mar 5, 2013)

divedoc said:


> Thanks again for the comments guys. I'm out of town (again), but my humidor's holding a rock steady 65% rh with HF beads. Been slowly building up the stash, and I think I'm at a point where I can wait until I run low before getting more.
> 
> Carpenter69, I did use a straightedge. Careful measurements and some clamping/carpet tape got me pretty darn close, but it wasn't perfect. I have incredible respect for the folks who routinely built straight, squared-off things without lasers and other tech. A buddy of mine owns a home built in the 18th century, and it's not exaggeration when I say that his walls and ceilings are still straighter than mine, which were built in the last five years or so.


Sorry brother I quoted the wrong person. Patience is the key. Even after 25 yrs. I still make mistakes.(plenty of them)


----------



## Carpenter69 (Mar 5, 2013)

This humidor is beautiful.love the inlay. Great choice of woods. Some how I think this isn't your first time building something.lol


----------



## Carpenter69 (Mar 5, 2013)

Mortenoir said:


> Did you put any finish on the inside?
> 
> I plan on building my own humidor soon. Any tips/advice?


Relax, take your time and have fun doing it.


----------



## divedoc (Mar 7, 2013)

Carpenter69 said:


> Relax, take your time and have fun doing it.


+1

I'm pretty new to woodwork and I'm always learning from my mistakes. One of my first mistakes was my eagerness to get to the cutting and gluing part. If you skimp on planning, re-planning, measuring, re-measuring, and double-checking again *before* you cut, you end up wasting lots of wood and getting super frustrated at the results. The truth of the matter is that you can make a solid humidor with some pretty simple techniques, it just takes patience and the willingness to deal with errors, or to learn from them and use a little more material. Seriously, if I could put that together, anyone can.

...Oh, and one other thing. For your first couple of projects, don't plan on saving any money.  With all of the tools, clamps, jigs, etc. that I collected, I'm pretty sure I could've bought a humidor for the same amount of money! The next one, though...


----------



## JPatrick (May 19, 2013)

Looks great! Keep it up, and before you know it you will be building a walkin.


----------



## liquidicem (May 23, 2013)

Looks great. I'm impressed that you did it without a table saw. I know it can be done, but it takes another level of patience and skill. Well done!


----------



## Tobias Lutz (Feb 18, 2013)

That is beautiful! I really envy those who can do nice wooodworking.


----------



## bassfishindoc (Jun 3, 2013)

That box looks great! I have always wanted to get better at woodworking I just do not have the time to put into it. Your work looks top notch!


----------



## Just1ce (Dec 9, 2011)

Very nice. I have been considering doing something like this on a larger scale, so I am glad to know that it can be done with great results.


----------



## paulb1970 (Mar 25, 2013)

That's nice!....mine would n\be leaking humidity like crazy!...ha!!......good job!!


----------

